As will have been seen, their custom was to wander into my room one by one, but this time they came together.

They had met in the boudoir, and came up the stair so quietly that I did not hear them.

They all looked very subdued, and Marriot took the cane chair so softly that it did not creak.

I noticed that after a furtive glance at me each of them looked at the centre-table, on which lay my brier, Romulus and Remus, three other pipes that all had their merits, though they never touched my heart until now, my clay tobacco-jar, and my old pouch.

I had said good-by to these before my friends came in, and I could now speak with a comparatively firm voice.
Marriot and Gilray and Scrymgeour signed to Jimmy, as if some plan of action had been arranged, and Jimmy said huskily, sitting upon the hearth-rug: "Pettigrew isn't coming.